BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Even if you have no desire to shop till you drop a walletload of money, if you're in Los Angeles, it's worth making the trip to Beverly Hills.

Yes, the brand-name, high-end shops on Rodeo Drive are ridiculously expensive, but no one says you have to buy. Ogling is free. And there is much to gape at.

All those high-end clothes you normally see only in magazines? In Beverly Hills, you can touch them as they hang on a rack.

Perhaps the best display space is Prada (343 N. Rodeo Drive), which has a theme to its displays that verges on art installation. In July, the theme was travel, with mannequins toting luggage on the front steps of the store, which is so cool it doesn't bother with a sign out front announcing it's the Prada store. The facade is blank.

Inside, the travel theme carried on throughout the store, perhaps most extensively on the second floor in menswear. Arches symbolizing airport-security metal detectors led into a showroom designed to resemble an airport baggage claim, all done in a stark black-and-white color scheme.

Up the street at Juicy Couture (456 N. Rodeo Drive), a pink knight stood guard near the stairs to the second floor. Upstairs, a pool table in the middle of the men's department awaited anyone who wanted to pass the time while others shopped.

Rodeo is also home to upscale brands such as Hermes, Chanel, Brooks Brothers and Cartier. If those stores are out of your price range, walk one block east to Beverly Drive to find typical chains (North Face, Gap, Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel), but also less expensive, less common shops.

Canadian clothing retailer Roots has a small store (371 N. Beverly Drive) that offers the company's trademark comfortable casual wear. Down the block at Adriano Goldschmied (329 N. Beverly Drive), a giant wheel of denim sits near the front window. It's made of 3,000 pounds of compacted jeans, a store specialty.

Beverly Hills is also a place to just people-watch. Plenty of restaurants and coffee shops, particularly on North Beverly, have outdoor seating, offering a good opportunity to watch the beautiful people who stroll past. And they are beautiful. As soon as you step off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport, an inferiority complex can set in. Beverly Hills just ups the ante.

During my visit, a bride in white and her tuxedoed groom -- followed by their wedding party --strolled down Rodeo as a photographer and videographer tried to capture the moment. It wasn't clear where they came from or where they were headed.

Celebrity sightings in the Beverly Hills business district are frequent. Sometimes the paparazzi follow celebrities to the door of a store. Then they lie in wait for the star to emerge, laden with shopping bags.

If you get tired of watching people, you can watch TV. The West Coast beachhead of the former Museum of Television & Radio, now the Paley Center for Media (465 N. Beverly Drive), offers access to TV in the same way as its New York outlet. (Suggested donations: $10 adults, $8 students/seniors, $5 children under 14; hours: noon-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.)

Visitors can watch what's scheduled to play in theaters, or they can go to the library and call up a TV show from the center's archives. Evening Q&A panels with the casts and producers of current TV shows are scheduled with some frequency. Visit PaleyCenter.org to see if there are any events when you plan to visit.

For automotive fans, wandering the streets of Beverly Hills is like stepping into a showroom for high-end cars from a multitude of manufacturers. BMWs and Mercedeses are the Hondas of Beverly Hills, with a healthy dose of Toyota Priuses in the mix for eco-conscious residents.

But you're also likely to come upon a Bentley or Rolls-Royce. During my visit, a sporty yellow convertible Rolls garnered stares as onlookers walked past its curbside parking spot along Rodeo.

The car, a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, retails for about $400,000. But staring at it longingly didn't cost a penny.